Algirdas. Senovės Lietuvos valstybininkas: jo veikla ir laikai

LTVytauto jubiliejiniai metai Lietuvos istorikus paskatino domėtis Vytautu, Jogaila ir Vytauto tėvu Kęstučiu. Su Algirdu susijusias temas tame laikotarpyje nagrinėjo lenkų istorikai K. Chodynickis, J. Puzyna ir H. Paszkiewiczius. Vis dėlto yra tiek lietuvių, tiek kitataučių istorikų, kurie pripažino ir tebepripažįsta, kad šalia Vytauto Algirdas buvo gabiausias senovės Lietuvos valdovas. Jo diplomatija, karyba ir užkariavimai sudarė aplinkybes Vytautui iškelti Lietuvos Didžiąją Kunigaikštystę į vyraujančias Rytų Europos valstybes. Kęstutis pasižymėjo Lietuvos gynyboje, o Algirdas buvo Lietuvos plėtros grindėjas. Jis nuosekliai vykdė ekspansinę politiką, kuri padvigubino Lietuvos valstybės plotus ir suteikė etnografinei Lietuvai ir reikalingų karių, ir resursų atsispirti Kryžiuočių ordino agresijai. Ordinui talkino Vakarų Europos riteriai, Ldk Algirdas rado vasalų slaviškuose Rytuose, kurie atsvėrė Vakarų karinę paramą kryžiuočiams. Algirdas buvo ir Vytauto Didžiojo politinis auklėtojas. Lietuviuose Kęstučio asmenybė yra kaip riteriškumo ir senų papročių gerbėjo pavyzdys, o Algirdas - pavyzdys, kaip iškelti tautos valstybingumą, kaip sėkmingiau sutelkti tautos jėgas valstybės gerovei ir plėtrai. Algirdas davė pavyzdį, kaip diplomatiškai suderinti kaimynų interesus savos tautos ir valstybės naudai. Žodžiu, Kęstutis apeliavo į lietuvio jausmus, o Algirdas - į jo protą. Kodėl Algirdas lietuvių mokslininkų užmirštas? Iš dalies kaltė glūdi M. Karamzino panslavistiniame ir didžiarusiškame mite, jog Algirdas buvęs rusininkas ir rusiškosios Kijevo valstybės atgaivinimo veiksnys. Panašiai apibūdino Algirdo asmenį ir veiklą V. Antonovičius, S. Solovjovas ir dabartiniai didžiarusiškumo šalininkai Rytų Europos istoriografijoje.Antonovičiaus mintys darė įtaką tokiems aušrininkams romantikams, kaip dr. Jonui Šliūpui. Noromis nenoromis toks nusiteikimas prieš Algirdą pasiekė šio amžiaus lietuvių istorikus. Kilo paprastas apibendrinimas, jog Kęstutis - tikras Lietuvos patriotas, o Algirdas - ne. Ir vis dėlto „nepatriotas" Algirdas suformulavo Vakarų valstybininkams tezę, jog Prūsai, Kuršas ir Žiemgala yra Lietuvos dalys. Vis dėlto Ldk Algirdas neprimetė stačiatikių tikėjimo etnografinei Lietuvai. Vis dėlto dauguma jo sūnų turėjo ir lietuviškus tautinius vardus. Ldk Algirdas nusipelnė didesnio dėmesio ir rimtesnių studijų. Būtų perdėm ambicingas užsimojimas išeivijoje parašyti išsamiausią ir autoritetingą veikalą apie Algirdą. Vis vien kur nors reikia pradėti. Sovietinė istoriografija atmeta istorinės Lietuvos veikėjų biografijas kaip buržuazines svajones. Išvengus kraštutinybių tarp karlailiško herojų garbinimo ir abstraktaus tam tikrų masių sąveikos dėsningumo, galima tyrinėti tam tikras epochas ir laikotarpius, atsižvelgiant į pavienių istorijos dramos veikėjų gyvenimą. [...]. [Iš Įvado]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštija, XIV a.; Kryžiuočių ordinas; Maskvos Didžioji Kunigaikštija; Aukso Orda; Gediminas; Algirdas; Kęstutis. Keywords: Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 14th century; Teutonic Order; Grand Duchy of Moscow; Golden Horde; Gediminas; Algirdas; Kęstutis.Reikšminiai žodžiai: Algirdas; Kunigaikščiai; Biografijos; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); 14 amžius; 14th century; Dukes; Biographies.

ENAlgirdas' contemporaries, the Russian chroniclers, evaluated his reign rather positively. For example, the compilers of the Nikon and Novgorod chronicles maintain that Algirdas surpassed all of the previous rulers of Lithuania in power and force of mind. Assessing all of the campaigns and military operations against the Order of the Cross, the first Lithuanian historian, Maciej Stryjkowski, in writing about Grand Duke Algirdas' demise, leaves us with the following classically humanistic eulogy: Algirdas equalled the actions of Hannibal the Carthaginian, the Roman Scipio Africanus, the Egyptian Syrophanses, Pireus of Epirus, Mauritania's Jugurtha and Jubo and all of the worthy Trojan, Grecian, Theban, Lacedaemonian dukes and kings. This humanistic rhetoric shows that the military prowess and deeds of Algirdas had really impressed the former soldier - turned scholar Stryjkowski. Algirdas as Lithuania's supreme suzerain, vigillantly safeguarded the unity and harmony of the two ethnographic components of his state - the Lithuanians and Ruthenians. He had sojourned for a long time in Vitebsk before assuming the throne in Vilnius. Therefore he had represented the interests of Vitebsk in the east and in Livonia. On the other hand, he assisted his father, when Grand Duke Gediminas gathered Ruthenian duchies under his sway. Pursuing the dynastic policy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Algirdas by necessity, had to guarantee the harmony and cooperation of his brothers and numerous nephews. Algirdas was a renowned heir of Gediminas. During his reign Algirdas realized the aspirations of his father with compounded results. However, Algirdas did not distinquish himself as an innovator or creator of original programs. Like Grand Duke Gediminas, Algirdas preserved the old religious beliefs and traditions. Like his father before him, he was very tolerant in religious matters.Like his father, he built up the rudimentary state apparatus, established ties with neighboring dukes through dynastic marriages. Guided by political expediency, the Grand Duke of Lithuania on several occasions turned his back on projects to accept baptism in the Roman Catholic Church. Like Gediminas, he safeguarded and fought for an Orthodox metropolitanate in the Lithuanian-ruled lands which would be directly subordinate to Constantinople. Algirdas was more astute than his father in the sense that he saw in a Lithuanian Greek Orthodox metropolitanate a factor which would faciliate the growth and consolidation of Lithuanian rule in Russia. It would be an error to think that Algirdas' goal was to make Lithuania Proper a russified Orthodox country, as some russophile historians have suggested. According to Romualdas Misiūnas: "if one is to doubt his religion (i.e., profession of Orthodoxy - А. В.), then one must doubt that his activities were motivated by a desire to spread Russian culture in Lithuania". Algirdas' correspondence with the Orthodox Patriarch Philoteus and the Holy Roman Emperor show considerable understanding about Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic politics as well as theology. His arguments of state were subtly interwoven with moral observations. In the east and south he literally doubled the area of his state, which soon stretched from the Baltic to the Black Seas and from the tributaries of the Oka, Ugra, and Seim in the east to the Southern Bug. In the east and south Algirdas displayed machiavellian craft and flexibility, by the exploiting the turmoil caused by the ascent and fall of the power of the Golden Horde and by utilizing the discord of the local Ruthenian dukes. As a result, he gathered under his rule new lands and subjects.What is truly remarkable is the fact that his Lithuanian military potential was rather limited because of continuous strife with the Knights of the Cross and the Swordbearers (i.e., the Teutonic and Livonian Orders). The Teutonic Knights could rely upon the limitless manpower of Western and Central Europe, According to the Soviet historian V. T. Pashuto, "Algirdas was mainly responsible for making his country one of the largest European states of his day. "However in the west he was unable to drive the Teutonic Knights from the banks of the Nemunas. The Polish historian Lowmianski made a correct observation when he stated that it was easier to conquer a Russian duchy than it was to recapture one castle from the Knights of the Cross. Bad relations with the Teutonic Order and with the Poles were the chief obstacle to the introduction of Catholicism among the Lithuanians. In the east Algirdas' expansion came to clash with the rising power of Moscow. Grand Duke Algirdas' three campaigns against Moscow did not change the balance of power among the Eastern Slavs. During the last years of the reign of Algirdas due to incessant fighting with the Teutonic Knights, Lithuanian influence in the east diminished, while the aggressiveness of Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich of Muscovy grew. The twilight of Algirdas' life was fraught with setbacks: in the east Dimitri of Moscow subdued his allies and vassals, king Louis D'Anjou of Poland and Hungary in 1377 captured Belz and Volhynia in the southwest. Perhaps the greatest affront was the Crossbearers intrusion at the beginning of 1377 into Lithuania Propria as far as the twin capitals of Trakai and Vilnius. Algirdas lacked sufficient forces at hand to expell the invaders. On the question of succession, Algirdas repeated the cardinal mistake of his father; he left the throne of Vilnius to his favorite, but weak son Jogaila. [...]. [From the publication]